Sometimes it felt like a Urinary Tract Infection although my tests NEVER showed one infection.

After having this for several years now it came up in conversation with Marek when we had a call last week. He said “I think you might have high oxalates. Stop eating high Oxalate foods such as Oranges, Spinach, Carrots, Rhubarb (Who eats that nowadays!), Nuts, and chocolate.” Hang on, I had a very high oxalate diet (most days). Even my protein was pea protein and was high in oxalates.

I researched heavily, downloaded an app for my iphone and cut down (bit by bit) on oxalates. Overnight my frequent urination stopped. Stopped dead. A great post I found on Marks daily Apple is here

What it an oxalate?:

It’s a toxin essentially. Oxalates are a common food chemical. They are indigestible to humans and for the most part should stay in the GI track and pass through unabsorbed. A healthy gut will resist absorbing them and will contain bacteria that break down oxalates to further protect the body. No benefit has been found to oxalates in the body.In fact they disrupt normal body functions on the cellular level. Once absorbed, the body needs to protect itself from them, either by putting them somewhere in storage or by excreting them. There is a limit to how much the body can excrete at once so if too much oxalate is absorbed at least some will be stored.If your detoxification systems aren’t working well, you might not excrete any.

It turns out that some people breakdown oxalates well – where? In THEIR GUT. If their gut can’t break down the oxalate you store it. In your kidneys (Calcium Oxalate Kidney Stones) your joints and other places. It’s not good.

Essentially if you have a high oxalate diet your body tries to get rid (or break it down) of what it can, if it can’t it stores it.

So, if you start a low oxalate diet it comes out of your cells into your blood stream and your kidneys try to flush it out. Stop all oxalates too quickly and you have a ‘honeymoon’ period where you feel amazing then you get hit hard.

Why is this so relevant? Because I before antibiotics I didn’t get this problem. What does that tell us… It’s to do with gut bacteria (or the gut at least).

There’s a particular type of gut bacteria that seems to get killed by antobiotics and causes this – called oxalobacter formigenes. Vitamin K also is relevant (probably due to gut damage).

This is what an oxalate crystal looks like under a microscope… No wonder they hurt! (and feel like a UTI)

Credit to http://uoitclinicalbiochemistry.weebly.com/urinalysis-crystals.html for the image

What symptoms does having oxalates bring?:

Kidney stones – check

Weakend Immune system – check

Urinary pain (like a UTI but no infection found) – check

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

COPD/Asthma

Vulvodynia/genital pain – check

Thyroid disease

Cystic Fibrosis

Fibromyalgia – check

Join Pain – check

Chronic Fatigue – check

Insomnia – check (although not of late)

Hormonal Imbalances – check

Chronic Candida – check

The cause and effects I have are:

Cut down oxalates > stop peeing so much.

Stop peeing so much > less prostate infections.

Replace gut bacteria (with the right type) > no need to cut down oxalates > stop peeing so much.

Stop peeing so much > no dehydration, less adrenal problems better energy.

To date, all I have cut out is:

Oranges

Spinach

Chocolate (what little I had)

Peanuts

Carrots

So far this small change has had a massive impact on my life. It’s the biggest leap I’ve had in months. Oxalates. If only doctors and specialists knew about this too!!! Medical professionals never seem to know the good things like this.

Update 14/8/16:
Even a month after posting this my frequent urination still hasn’t come back unless I cheat and have a high Oxalate food like chocolate.

If I do cheat I take a Calcium Citrate tablet as the Calcium bonds to the Oxalate and escorts it out of the body. BOOM!

Update 28/8/16:
I’m still not frequently urinating! Chocolate seems to be the trigger. Since the original post above I have tested Chanca Piedra to help break down the oxalate crystals / calcium in my kidneys (and seemed to help my liver clear out massively too!) and have just ordered HCA (hydroxycitrate) based on a study I found here – as apparently it helps break down calcium oxalate crystals too. I’ll report back!